Scottish Executive

Food Safety

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost savings were to the meat hygiene service following the 2002 tender procedure for veterinarian services in Scotland.

Ross Finnie: : As a result of the 2002 re-tendering exercise the average hourly rate charged to the meat hygiene service for official veterinary surgeons in Scotland reduced by 12.5%.

Maternity Services

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1912 by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 October 2003, whether it will ensure that the report from NHS Argyll and Clyde and NHS Greater Glasgow on the pattern of patient choice for consultant-led maternity units involves substantive discussion and consultation with communities and elected members.

Malcolm Chisholm: It is up to NHS Argyll and Clyde and NHS Greater Glasgow how they take this work forward. I would expect local communities and elected members to be involved in this process.

Ministerial Visits

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will be represented at the International Solid Waste Association Congress 2003 in Melbourne, Australia, from 9 to 14 November 2003.

Ross Finnie: No.

NHS Staff

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the staffing level of all NHS 24 units matches planned establishment and, if not, in which units it does not match planned establishments.

Malcolm Chisholm: Staffing levels match planned establishment given current development and rollout requirements over the coming year. We consider NHS 24 to be a virtual service therefore staffing is projected over the organisation not individual centres.

Non-Domestic Rates

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether all telecommunications operators are charged rates on their fibres.

Mr Andy Kerr: All telecommunications operators in rateable occupation of fibre are currently in the valuation roll or are in the process of providing the necessary information to the relevant assessor to allow entries to be made.

Non-Domestic Rates

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether in the event of the public sector investing in telecommunications networks, business rates on such networks will be levied on an equivalent basis to rates levied on private sector companies.

Mr Andy Kerr: Yes. The basic principle of rating is that any subject is valued for occupation by a hypothetical tenant not the actual occupier.

Non-Domestic Rates

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that the rates for all telecommunications operators are levied equally in order to encourage broadband investment.

Mr Andy Kerr: Rateable values for telecommunications operators are based on the rateable assets in occupation by them. Any variations will be determined by the extent of such assets in the occupation of any particular operator. The majority of operators are valued using the comparative approach where actual rental levels of fibre space are used to set the rateable value. For BT the receipts and expenditure method is used to value their rateable assets due to the size of the network. If this method was used for the smaller operators it would result in a nil or very low rateable value. There is relevant legislation and case law which sets out when it is appropriate to use the receipts and expenditure method and assessors, who are independent from both central and local government, follow this when determining how to reach a rateable value. The valuation of the industry is being looked at afresh in advance of revaluation 2005 and assessors will be holding discussions with all operators to agree an approach and ensure the system is fair to all.

Prison Service

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its definition is of a "short-term prisoner" and how many prisoners have been categorised as such in each of the last three years, broken down by prison.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows.

  A short-term prisoner is defined in section 27(1) of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993 (as amended) as a person who is serving a sentence of imprisonment for a term of less than four years. Information about short-term prisoner receptions, excluding fine defaulters, is provided in the following table

  Short-Term Prisoner Receptions by Establishment, 2000-021

  

 Penal Establishment
 2000
 2001
 2002


 Barlinnie
 3,332
 3,521
 3,961


 Aberdeen
 569
 655
 626


 Castle Huntly
 1
 1
 1


 Cornton Vale
 450
 559
 522


 Dumfries
 321
 386
 417


 Edinburgh
 1,774
 1,837
 1,934


 Glenochil Prison
 31
 30
 34


 Glenochil Young Offenders Institution
 127
 101
 69


 Greenock
 871
 986
 922


 Inverness
 464
 475
 518


 Longriggend2
 11
 
 


 Low Moss
 256
 240
 249


 Noranside
 0
 1
 1


 Perth
 724
 826
 1,059


 Peterhead
 4
 1
 4


 Polmont
 447
 446
 366


 Shotts
 36
 25
 18


 Kilmarnock
 1,142
 1,218
 1,097


 Total
 10,560
 11,308
 11,798



  Notes:

  1. These figures are the numbers of warrants received rather than people i.e. one person may have more than one warrant.

  2. HM Remand Institution Longriggend was closed in April 2000.

Rail Services

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the Glasgow Crossrail scheme in regard to (a) ensuring that the planned rail link to Glasgow Airport opens the airport to the whole of Scotland and (b) delivering many of the rail projects listed in the central Scotland transport corridor document.

Nicol Stephen: Glasgow Crossrail proposals were received by the Executive from Strathclyde Passenger Transport executive on 28 October. These proposals will be considered carefully, including their interactions with the Glasgow airport rail link and other rail projects in the Glasgow area arising from the central Scotland transport corridor studies. The latter include: additional car parking at Castlecary station to reduce car dependency in the A80 corridor; improving public transport accessibility by offering increased levels of rail services at Glasgow-Carfin/Holytown, between Motherwell and Stirling via Cumbernauld, and Glasgow-Whifflet, and improving public transport accessibility to jobs between the suburbs of Glasgow and Edinburgh through re-opening the Airdrie-Bathgate railway line.

Rail Services

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive in respect of the progress of the development of extended park-and-ride facilities at Croy Station.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive on a wide range of issues, including the development of extended park and ride facilities at Croy Station.

Roads

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what additional funds it will make available to North Lanarkshire and Falkirk councils to enable them to maintain the roads for which they are responsible that will be subject to additional traffic use during the proposed on-line upgrade of the A80.

Nicol Stephen: A requirement of the works contract will be that two lanes in each direction are made available to traffic at times of peak demand and traffic diversion onto the local network should be minimised. At this stage, I do not anticipate significant additional wear on local roads that will require specific funding.

Roads

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish estimates of any expected increase in traffic volume on ancillary roads adjacent to the proposed on-line upgrade of the A80 during the work.

Nicol Stephen: It is not anticipated there will be any significant increase in traffic volumes on ancillary roads as two lanes in each direction will be maintained at times of peak demand on the A80 during the works contract.

Tourism

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many guest houses have deregistered in (a) Scotland and (b) each tourist board area in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of all registered guest houses.

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) guest houses and (b) bed and breakfasts have been registered (i) nationally and (ii) in each tourist board area in each of the last five years.

Mr Frank McAveety: This is an operational matter for VisitScotland.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Holyrood Project

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Presiding Officer when the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body anticipates that Horse Wynd, Edinburgh, next to the new Parliament building, will re-open.

Mr George Reid: : It is anticipated that Horse Wynd will reopen before Christmas. The Holyrood progress group has decided that asphalt should be used in this area instead of traditional granite setts. This is a temporary solution which will allow construction to proceed and the road to re-open while leaving the option of returning to lay the setts once the council has developed a specification which is acceptable to their approved specialist contractors.